Tonight, the Red Wings will host the Stars at Joe Louis for a shot a history — a win would be Detroit’s 21st in a row at home, setting the all-time NHL single-season mark set 1929-30 Boston Bruins and 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers.

“They’re a puck-control team and it seems like Datsyuk can hold onto it for five minutes straight, just like [Jaromir] Jagr can. He gets in the corners, passes out there and no matter how good your stick is you can’t get the puck. He’s got great vision where he can find players in the slot, or back door.”

Valtteri Filppula: On pace for a career year, the 27-year-old Finn is second on the team in home goals (nine) and has been a point-a-game guy (26 in 26) at Joe Louis this season.

“I always knew he has all the tools,” Selanne told MLive.com. “He really has no weaknesses. He can skate so well. He’s strong, he can see the game, he can pass.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time because this guy has everything you need to be at the superstar level.”

Todd Bertuzzi: Bertuzzi was placed on a line with Datsyuk and Johan Franzen back in late November…which just so happened to coincide with the start of Detroit’s streak. Bertuzzi had a minus-1 rating through his first 11 games but has been a plus-22 since joining Datsyuk and Franzen, and Big Bert’s inspired play has pleased his head coach.

“I think he’s been real strong on pucks and a real good net presence for those guys and good defensively and energized and playing well,” Babcock said. “It’s given us a real good line there.”

Jimmy Howard: Sadly, he won’t be in goal to set the NHL record — he’s out with a broken finger — but Howard was the goalie of record for the first 17 wins of the streak. That run included shutouts over Edmonton, St. Louis and Buffalo and one-goal efforts against Nashville, Winnipeg and St. Louis. The 27-year-old also made his first All-Star appearance this season and leads the NHL in wins, with 32.

Nicklas Lidstrom: One of the great moments of this streak wasn’t about wins — it was watching team captain Nicklas Lidstrom move past franchise legend Alex Delvecchio for games played (1,550). Only Gordie Howe has appeared in more contests wearing the winged wheel, but soon Lidstrom will hold that record as well.

Regular season and playoffs combined, Howe has appeared in 1,841 games for the Red Wings while Lidstrom is next at 1,808 — meaning that, barring an unforeseen circumstance, No. 5 will break Mr. Hockey’s record this postseason.

New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang provided an interesting take to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, and also reminded observes that, as an international sport, the NHL features some players who might not feel as invested in (or at least as informed about) these debates.

“I think what the NFL players are doing is amazing. It’s good that they’re all sticking together,” Ho-Sang said on Monday. “I mean, I’m Canadian, so I don’t have too much input on the matter itself. It will affect me living in the States, but the biggest thing is it’s unfortunate that the message may have gotten lost a little. Now it’s becoming a battle between the NFL and the president and originally [the protests] started because of police brutality and the mistreatment of different races.”

“Protecting the First Amendment is a huge thing,” Okposo said. “I’m a proud American, and I’m proud to be from the United States. Myself personally, I wouldn’t kneel for an anthem, but I respect those that do.”

***

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the current political climate affect NHL players or people they know.

Players in plenty of sports are navigating tough questions this week. It’s important to remember that athletes can find themselves in tough spots when addressing topics that can be polarizing and/or complex.

Can't imagine being 20 years old, talking to a pack of reporters about controversial protests, knowing that any misstep releases the hounds.

With the regular season about to kick into gear on Oct. 4, it’s certain that there will be more eyes on anthems than ever before. The insights in this post should be useful, whether NHL players kneel, sit, speak, or decide to stick to hockey.

The key: after only being able to study brains of deceased athletes, there’s a chance that living athletes with CTE might eventually be identified.

On face value, that’s great news for player health. Hockey, like other contact sports such as football, is no stranger to careers and lives being derailed by brain injuries.

Of course, the NHL and NHLPA would need to cooperate to make the most of potential progress. If you’ve watched hockey long enough, particularly postseason hockey, you know that certain protocols can stand as great concepts met with hesitant execution.

Westhead expounds on such thoughts, and some of his findings aren’t very pretty.

Players might be hesitant to take such tests if it means that they’ll miss playing time (or even see their careers end). It brings back memories of Peyton Manning willfully sandbagging his baseline concussion test. For better or worse, these guys want to play.

NHL player agent: “If I asked 30 of my players if they would take a test to tell them if they have CTE, I think zero would be interested."

Of course, it’s crucial to realize that potential breakthroughs from this study could take quite some time to trickle into functional practices, even if leagues and players end up being more willing to comply than expected.

Overall, this is promising news. Hopefully such changes could help athletes during their careers and into retirement.

Sprong, 20, was the 46th pick of the 2015 NHL Draft. He’s been generating solid numbers at the OHL, so it will be interesting to see how he converts that to AHL work. Sprong played 18 regular-season games for the Penguins back in 2015-16, notching two goals.

There are some bullet points that can sell Nolan, but the 28-year-old’s production was quite limited at the NHL level. Nolan’s never scored 10 goals in a single season; in fact, he’s only reached 10 points once in his career (six goals and four assists in 64 regular-season contests back in 2013-14).

Overall, it wouldn’t be surprising if a team targeted Nolan as a depth guy, even if his ceiling is limited.

While the Penguins’ entries seem notable for sheer volume as much as anything else, Frank Corrado is another name that stands out.

Corrado was often the catalyst for debates about his playing time (or lack thereof) with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it doesn’t seem like the defenseman is having much success catching on with the Penguins, either.

Zatkoff, meanwhile, fits in with quite a few other names on this list: possibly prominent in the AHL, only likely to get the occasional cup of coffee in the NHL, at this point.